Burning In Time
by Network Mickey
Summary: Join the Doctor as he is taken from time by an old adversary, together with a past companion, he must return himself into existence. What he doesn't realise is that something has been brought back through history and that he must face the ultimate decision, let it shine, or let it burn into history.
1. Chapter One - Stolen!

Chapter One

A gloved hand glides across the keys on the device that lay in front of the hooded man. Like a pianist playing a classical masterpiece, knowing where each fingertip needs to be at each specific point in time.

The device begins to hum. Lights come on around the room. Around the circular room, are thirteen pods, a light above each. A console stands in the middle of the room facing the pods, a double door is in a slight recess at the edge of the room.

The gloved hand pushes a button and one pod on the end begins to be flooded with a gas. The surface of the pod begins to cool and freeze. The machinery around the pod begins to hum and then there is a blinding light from inside of the pod itself. The humming grows louder and the machinery sounds like it's speeding up. The light becomes brighter for a few seconds before the lights and sounds all stop. There's a moment of silence before there's a series of double beeps, like a heart monitor, but registering two heartbeats.

The hooded man approaches the pod and looks in to the darkness. His hand moves to a switch on the side of the pod, he flicks the switch and a light comes on inside the pod. It illuminates the face of the occupant, eyes closed and mouth slightly open, as if the person inside is sleeping. The hooded man directs his attention to a panel over the pod, checking the readings on the screen. He pushes a series of buttons, each giving off a different electrical beep. The screen changes to show different readings. The hooded man turns away, switching off the light inside the pod as he walks back to his console.

On the console, the hooded man slides a sliding switch upwards and pushes a button next to it. A screen across the room comes on and numbers appear. The numbers change seemingly at random. The hooded man begins to repeat his performance from before. He adjusts four sliders, attempting to tune the equipment. On the screen, some of the numbers stop changing. Eventually, after more tuning, all but one of the numbers on the screen have stopped changing. The hooded man slides the first slider back down and the number rests on a figure. As this happens, the machinery around the next pod along the line hums into life. The process from before repeats itself, the freezing of the pod, the bright light, and then the heart monitor beeps. The hooded man approaches the second pod, eager to examine his prize.

The hooded man flicks the switch on the side of the pod; the light inside comes on and reveals a second face of a man. Like before, the eyes are closed and the mouth slightly open. The hooded man checks the readings on the panel above the pod, just like before, and then returns to his console once more.

Meanwhile, across the universe, a man we know is running for his life. His booted shoes hitting the ground as he runs. The tails of his tweed jacket kicking up behind him. A laser bolt is shot at him, but it misses and hits a wall ahead of him. He is the Doctor in his eleventh incarnation. He darts around a corner as another laser bolt is shot at him, followed by metallic cries of "EXTERMINATE!" The man thrusts his hand inside his jacket and pulls out his Sonic Screwdriver. He points it ahead of him at a closed door. The Sonic whistles into life, but the door refuses to open. The man gets to the door and attempts to use the Sonic again. It fails to do anything, so the Doctor puts the Sonic into his jacket pocket and braces himself against the sealed door. He attempts to push it open, but it doesn't budge. "Oh, come ON!" He screams this last word as he continues to push against the door. It creeks, and opens by a couple of inches. He steps back and attempts to sonic again, but it fails again. "Why aren't you working? It's not wood!" He puts the Sonic away again and pushes against the door once more. "EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek war cry echoes through the corridors.

The Doctor is able to open the door a bit further and manages to squeeze through it just in time for another laser bolt to hit the wall right next to the door. He falls into the room beyond the door and pulls out the Sonic and activating it again. It whistles as the door closes behind him. He stands up, puts the Sonic away in his jacket, runs his fingers through his hair and straightens his bow tie. He walks forward confidently as muffled cries of "EXTERMINATE!" come from the other side of the door.

Back across the universe, the hooded man continues to work his device. The machinery above the third pod sparks and fails slightly, but the hooded man manages to correct the fault and it continues to power up.

The Doctor turns a corner, fully expecting to see his most faithful companion, but he doesn't. Just an empty corridor. He becomes worried and runs to the end of the corridor. He puts his hand out, hoping to be able to feel the wooden exterior of his TARDIS, but his hand falls through the air and hits the wall. The sound of the door that separated him from almost certain death opening causes him to turn around on the spot. He backs against the wall as three Daleks come round the corner after him. Two red Daleks glide along on either side of a White supreme Dalek. It's the White Dalek that does the talking, "YOU HAVE NOWHERE ELSE TO RUN DOCTOR, YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!" The Doctor swallows hard, before replying "Well, that all depends on what you mean be escape. If you mean that I have no way of getting out of here with my limbs attached, then you're right, and I don't have a way out, which sort of negates the reason for me saying all of this because I have no way of getting out of here with my limbs attached."

"SILENCE! YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS DOCTOR, YOU SHALL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"Exterminated? My my, how many times have you threatened to exterminate me and how many times have I escaped?"

"NEGATIVE! YOU HAVE BEEN UNKNOWN TO THE DALEKS UNTIL NOW!"

"Yes well, long story on that one, have you got the time for it? I've got plenty! The rest of my life in fact!" The Doctor claps his hands together and laughs nervously. The Daleks stand their ground. "No, you've never been a fan of the humour really, have you, never mind, I'm sure I can find something for you to laugh at, a Dalek, a Cyberman and a Silurain all walk into a bar-"

"SILENCE DOCTOR, YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" The two red Daleks join the white Dalek in chanting their battle cry. "EXTERMINATE, EXTERMINATE!" The white Dalek stops chanting whilst the red Daleks continue. The Doctor closes his eyes, squinting them shut, bracing himself. He lifts his arms, preparing to be hit with the Dalek weaponry. "SPACIAL TEMPORAL INSTABILITY DETECTED!" The Doctor opens his eyes, he drops his arms as he spins around and moves out of the way of where he is expecting his TARDIS to appear. But nothing. He turns to the Daleks, "I thought you said there was a special temporal instability?" The Daleks look at the Doctor, who has begin to glow the same light as the pods. The Doctor lifts his hand up to his face and twists it in the air, examining it. "Well that's new!" There's a blinding light and the Doctor vanishes. The Daleks shift backwards. The Daleks scan the surrounding area, searching for any trace of the Doctor, but there is none. "NEGATIVE SCAN ON TIME LORD DNA". There's a dull bang from elsewhere on the Dalek ship, and then another, and a third. A series of explosions until, the ship blows up.

The hooded man looks over the life signs on the monitor above the third pod, pushing a few buttons to change the readings on screen. He turns his attention to the pod itself, switches on the light inside, which reveals the eleventh face of the Doctor. The hooded man smiles and walks back to his machine, continuing his task of filling the remaining ten pods.


	2. Chapter Two - Theta Sigma Returns

Chapter Two - Theta Sigma Returns

The room with the pods is dark, the only light comes from the life signs monitors above all thirteen of the pods. The double doors slide open and the hooded figure comes in. The lights come on, illuminating the room. The hooded man heads straight for the console in the centre of the room and pushes some buttons. Monitors on the console change to show different information regarding the stasis pods that line the edge of the room.

The machinery over the pod containing the Doctor begins to falter, a warning flashes up on the screen. The hooded man moves over to the pod and attends to the machinery. He looks into the pod and sees eye movement behind the Doctor's closed eyelids. The hooded man clears the fault and the machinery begins to work correctly again. He looks in on the Doctor once more, checking for any further movement, there is none, and returns to the console. He picks up an electronic tablet and synchronizes it with the console. He turns and leaves the room, the lights going off behind him.

A few moments pass before the machinery above the Doctor's pod fails again. This time though, it is a total failure, the sounds whine down and the pipes stop pumping the coolant to the pod. The light inside the pod begins to flash red. As time passes, the pod defrosts, water dripping down the sides and onto the floor. Inside, the Doctor begins to stir, waking up from his cryo-stasis. His eyes open and he looks around his pod. He begins to push against the lid, but a latch keeps it closed though. There isn't much room, but the Doctor manages to get his Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket. He activates it, and the latch vibrates open. The Doctor pushes the lid open and he takes a deep breath, allowing fresh oxygen to enter his lungs. He pulls himself out of the pod, falling to the ground on all fours and coughing.

The Doctor looks around the darkened room. He can't see much because of the cryo-stasis. He pulls himself off the ground with the assistance of the edge of the pod, suddenly, the lid slams on his hand, instinctively, he drops his Sonic into the pod itself, he manages to get his hand free, but the loud noise has alerted someone. The Doctor quickly hides behind another pod as the doors to the room open. Another man walks in, dressed in a dark blue jump suit and wearing a helmet with a visor, the lights come on as he quickly looks around the room. He sees that the Doctor's pod has failed, so walks over to it and corrects the fault. Luckily for the Doctor, the man doesn't check the occupant of the pod, he just resets the system and leaves the room, the doors closing behind him.

The Doctor emerges from his hiding place and looks down at the pod he was hiding behind. The window in the pod is frosted over, so the Doctor wipes it clean so as to get a look inside. He is shocked by what he sees. He finds the switch on the side of the pod and activates the light inside. It illuminates a face that he recognizes. The face is of an old man, with grey hair down to his neck. The Doctor looks at the next pod along. This occupant has dark hair, a slight bowl cut and a bow tie. His face reminiscent of a hobo. The Doctor lifts his own hand to his face, running his finger tips over his own cheek bone. The Doctor looks around the room, counting the pods. "Thirteen?" he mutters to himself. Using where he is standing as a starting point, he works out which pod he was in and realizes that he was in the eleventh pod. He looks down at the old man's face and it all begins to make sense. "But how?" He begins to wonder as he walks around the room, examining each pod individually, he looks in and sees his fourth self "All hair and teeth!" He continues around the room, recognizing the faces of all of his past incarnations. He gets to pods twelve and thirteen, but resists looking in. He isn't sure that he wants to look inside, what if he bumped into one of them at some point in his future? Would he want to know what he will look like in the future? "On one hand, I'd be able to plan my outfits a bit before hand…" he muses to himself. But he decides against clearing the frost off the pods. He goes back to the tenth pod and attempts to use the panel above it, but the controls are locked. The Doctor attempts to crack the codes, but gives up once the controls fail to respond. He clicks his fingers and turns around, looking at his own pod. He lifts the lid and reaches in for his Sonic Screwdriver, but sees that the lid has broken part of it off. He pulls out both parts and attempts to put them back together, hoping that the Sonic will heal itself. It does not; so he pockets the broken piece and attempts to use the Sonic on the panel as it is. The green light at the end flickers, and then dies. The Doctor tries to re-activate it, but it doesn't respond. He returns it to the inside of his jacket, "Perhaps once you've warmed up a bit!" The Doctor looks around the room and walks over to the console in the middle.

As the Doctor approaches the console, it begins to breath into life, emitting a gentle humming and a monitor on the console blinks into life. The Doctor starts pushing buttons, it allows him limited access to the system. He sees that he has the option to bring the rest of his incarnations out of their cryo-slumber. He hesitates for a moment, thinking that he might need all the help he can get, but when he tries to bring them out, the system won't allow him without a code. The Doctor pulls out his broken Sonic and attempts to override the need for a code, but the Sonic sits lifeless in his hand. "Looks like a might need a new one then!" He pockets the Sonic once more and heads towards the double doors. They begin to slide open as he approaches, so he darts to the side and against the wall next to them. He looks out into the corridor, but doesn't see anyone, so silently slips through the doors and continues on down the corridor. The doors close behind him and appear to lock.

The Doctor has several near misses, nearly running in to several people, all wearing the similar blue jumpsuit and helmet combination. Eventually, he stumbles upon a flight of stairs, and walks up them, finally coming to what appears to be a recreation room. The Doctor pears in through a crack in the door. He sees a single occupant, sitting on a chair at the table, reading something on an electronic tablet. The Doctor sees two doors on the other side of the room. He slips in silently, not wanting to alert the occupant at the table. The Doctor manages to get past the occupant and gets to one of the doors, he slowly opens it, revealing it to be a closet containing spare jumpsuits and helmets. He realizes how useful they are and grabs them, he puts one of the jumpsuits on over his clothes and grabs a helmet, but he closes the door to the closet a bit hard, causing a noise. The occupant looks up "Is someone there?" A female voice, The Doctor closes his eyes, realizing what he has just done. The female occupant stands up and the Doctor quickly puts the helmet on a heads up display comes up and begins to show readings for the environment. He approaches the woman and puts on a deep voice "Yes, high, erm, sorry, yes, I just needed to get something out of the…erm….y'know…." The female tilts her head to one side, as if trying to look under the visor. She continues to the Doctor's sentence "the closet?"

"Yes, that's the one, isn't amazing how you can have the word inside of your head and then POOF it's gone just at the moment when you need it, it really is amazing!" There's a silence between the pair of them. The female takes a step towards the Doctor, "Do I know you?" The Doctor fumbles with the Velcro on his jumpsuit, "erm, no, I don't think so…" The female takes another step towards him, the corner of her mouth flicking into a half smile. The Doctor realizes that he's been made, and then she speaks. "Thate?" The Doctor swallows hard, "I'm…I'm sorry?" The female continues, "It is you, isn't it? I can't believe it, you shouldn't be here!"

"I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with someone else," The Doctor talks quickly as he attempts to push passed the woman. "I don't think so, Theta Sigma, last I saw of you, was running back to your TARDIS, clutching your precious Sonic Screwdriver!" The Doctor pays attention to her, as if he knows her and is only just beginning to acknowledge this. "Who ARE you?" he asks. The woman's mouth turns into a smile, he's just confirmed her suspicions. She lifts her hands to her head and pulls the helmet off, revealing the face of someone that the Doctor knows from adventures in his past. He moves his mouth to talk, but words fail to materialize. She giggles at him. Finally, he manages to say a single word, "Romana?"


End file.
